Swine flu claims 15 lives in Delhi

NEW DELHI: The death toll due to swine flu at Safdarjung Hospital touched 15, with the death of two more patients. Sources said a 24-year-old man from Muzaffarpur and a 62-year-old woman from Aligarh succumbed to the disease recently.

“Both were referred cases. Our doctors tried their best to save the two patients but due to severe complications the patients could not be saved,” said an official.

Countrywide, more than 1,100 people have died due to swine flu this year. Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat are the worst affected states. In Delhi, the state government claims only five people have died due to the viral illness but hospitals have reported nearly three to four times more deaths. “Many patients are referred from other states,” added officials.

The National Centre for Disease Control in Delhi have found that the H1N1 strain in circulation this year is different from the one in circulation previous years. “The virus in circulation is of Michigan strain. Earlier, it was mostly the California strain,” Dr A C Dhariwal, director of NCDC, said.